catapult magazine

A call to grace

Grace is open, not closed. Grace is compassionate, not criticizing. Grace is forgiving, not judging. Grace is listening, not telling. Grace is godliness.

Then, why hasn’t grace prevailed? Where is grace when people differ on how to run a church, how they should dress, where they should go or what they should listen to? How many people of faith have we lost because we could not be gracious and understanding in our dealings with them? We just “had to take a stand”-not a stand against sinful behavior, but a stand against what we think Christians should or should not be doing, saying or being.

Bruised and battered Christians are now flocking to churches of grace. They are injured by those they thought were “friends of the faith.” These people have come from churches where legalistic philosophies and condemnations have injured many. Those who are hurting come to a church of grace, hoping for healing. It is usually their last venture into Christianity. If they are not built up and renewed in their faith, they are lost forever in rejection of a mediocre religiosity so they will not get hurt again.

In ministering to others in our world, let us find the balance between grace to heal and truth to be told. As Paul says in Ephesians 4, “That which proceeds out of your mouth should be good for the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.”